A Step Up

[Innkeeper]

For those of you tired or bored with plain ole Cotes Du Rhone, there is a short step up; without paddling to far up the Rhone. That step up is to Cotes Du Rhone Villages; which is still many steps short of the upper valley Rhones. For an additional buck or two you can get a perceptibly better wine. If you compare Paul Jaboulet Aine's Parallele 45 with their Villages you can tell the difference. The Villages is a little fuller in body, and has a hint of the peppery nuances that is characteristic of its upper valley cousins. The Villages also has a hint of jaminess to it that the plain ole Cotes lack. Have had several bottles of Jaboulet's 1996 over the last few months, and have never been disappointed with the pairings. Tonight we had it with broiled Country French sausage.